It's the end of the world as you know it – brought to you by a Gnome Mage with big balls of fire

It’s a matter of perspective

Are you a 1st person player, or do you need to step back and impartially observe in 3rd person?

I know there are times and places for both views, but just recently while running my AH mule around in 1st person I have been gaining a new respect for perspective.

Gnomeaggedon is nearly always in distant 3rd person. So distant that he looks like a spec on the ground. Think view from airplane.

But it’s my Dwarven AH mule that has caught my attention. Due to inherent height deficiencies, he is running around at waist height.

This feels amazing when running through a group of other players, as it really feels like you are trying to squeeze through a crowd. I find myself running around other toons, because it’s natural that I don’t want the impact.

This has made me wonder a couple of things.

do roleplayers play in 1st person to feel authentic?

do people change their perspective as required?

Times for differing perspectives.

1st personLag avoidance

Some situations demand that you reduce the visuals as much as possible. The best example being AoE feats.

While those visual effects and damage numbers are something to experience, it can ironically have a detrimental effect on your ingame experience – lag, of worst case disconnection.

When I got the Leeroy achievement it was a sight to behold, but unfortunately the login screen was a sight I really didn’t want to see.

In hindsight, 1st person view while studying the ground carefully would have been a much better idea.

This is a worthwhile tip for healers too.
If in reality all you need to pay attention to is your healing frames, then the best view for you is no view. Either face a wall, or face the ground. You will miss out on the action, but your lag should be reduced enough that you don’t miss a heal.

Obstacle avoidance

Some places, instances being the best example, have flags and other groovy architectural features that can drive you crazy.

The only recourse being 1st person to avoid the distractions.

Photo shoots
Sometimes the last thing you want spoiling the perfect photo is your own ugly mug.

Object identification

Other times the only way to spot your objective is to get up close and personal. The Musty Tomes were books that would either give you your desired quest item, or a nasty surprise. There were a couple of ways of identifying the correct book, but only close up.

3rd personSituational awareness 45 degree angle

Sometimes you need to see the whole playing field. In PvP in particular, but also valuable in nearly every other circumstance.

You need, or at least want, to know what is either side of you, and often as importantly, what’s coming up behind you.

Situational awareness top down

Sometimes you need the birds eye view. Distance isn’t as important as knowing you aren’t standing on deadly dog poo, and when you are, knowing where to go, quickly.

Photo shoot

What’s a boss kill without you and 9-39 others in the photo?

Ever been on holiday only to deck your photos on return to discover that you aren’t in any of them. It’s kind of a surreal “screenshot or it didn’t happen” moment.

So make sure you include yourself in the family album.

Changing your perspective.

Home or mouse scroll will by default zoom you into 1st person.

End or Mouse scroll will by default zoom you to 3rd person.

Extending your 3rd person perspective

Your 3rd person may not be all it can be. If you want to see more, check out the slider in Video settings. Find the max 3rd person range you want.

A perspective challenge

Whichever perspective is your usual perspective, change it for an hour, or while in the cities at least.

I have the same problem as Froonium (1st person view makes me motion sick in this, and every other game I’ve played) – but I will say that RPers do not, as far as I know, play in 1st person mode. You’ll find pretty much the same breakdown in the RP community as elsewhere for 1st vs 3rd person.

I picked up an addon called improved camera, which increases my camera follow distance a lot. I used to play fully zoomed out, but lately I’ve been playing with the camera just barely zoomed out. i find it cuts down on my framerate a lot, but I can’t stand first person view.

@Anna: Motion sickness seems to be as good a reason as any to avoid 1st person. Are there any times you submit to potential sickness in the name of RP?

@Luthvian: Welcome to my blog & I just checked out your… Yay another Mage Blog!
I really need to experiment with the difference in framerate between views. I remember that there was a mod out there that would change display settings based on location, to handle changes like LagForge. I wonder whether the difference is worthwhile with views as well.